Chapter 216: The Same-old Gathering

Klein started his first morning in Backlund under cold and humid weather

conditions, with a light fog that provided very little visibility. For

breakfast, he had one liter worth of cheap tea, costing one penny, and

two pieces of toast with inferior butter in the center.

He was busy the entire morning, but he first went to the Cherwood

Borough's Backlund Bulletin to post a tiny advertisement for a month at

the cost of thirty pounds.

From Tuesday, the Backlund Bulletin's loyal readers would see a tiny

advertisement along the seams of its seventh and eighth page.

*Sherlock Moriarty. Good at various types of private investigations.

Reasonable prices and strictly adheres to the principles of

confidentiality. Resides at Cherwood Borough's 15 Minsk Street.*

The reason why Klein didn't choose major newspapers like the Tussock

Times or the Backlund Daily Tribune, that had a readership all across

the entirety of the Loen Kingdom, was due to the fact that his business

was temporarily limited to Backlund. Furthermore, he didn't wish for a

sterling reputation.

Therefore, the Backlund Bulletin, which was well-received locally and

had low advertisement fees, became his first choice.

After leaving the Backlund Bulletin's headquarters, Klein took out a map

and followed it to purchase various herb powders and silver slices from

various herbal stores, flower stores, jewelry stores, and accessory

stores. He did it in preparation for holding a ritual. When items that

didn't have any spirituality were involved, most of the materials in

mysticism could be purchased from ordinary stores. However, they weren't

all under one roof, requiring him to visit many stores to collect them.

To do so, Klein spent another 5 pounds. The humongous sum of 200 pounds

that he withdrew broke below the 100 pound mark, leaving him only with

92 pounds.

"Spending money is as easy as drinking water..." Klein found a small

cafeteria nearby and ordered a black pepper steak worth 8 pence.

He returned to 15 Minsk Street at one in the afternoon, and without

rest, he spent his time using Slumber flower, dragon blood grass, dark

red sandalwood, and mint powders to create Holy Night Powder, a key

ingredient needed to create a wall of spirituality.

He could only make do with this method until he bought a real silver

ritual dagger.

Klein speculated that he would have to advance to Sequence 7 before he

could do away with this restriction.

*Phew, Miss Justice, Mr. Hanged Man, and The Sun haven't requested for

leave yet. The gathering will be held on time today... I wonder what

surprises Mr. Hanged Man will bring me, and how many pages of Roselle's

diary he can provide...* Klein laid back on his bed in the

bedroom and thought about all sorts of things.

To him, a private detective was a career that took into account both

money and action. It allowed him to get in touch with people from all

walks of life and slowly discover the Beyonder circle in Backlund. From

there, he could slowly find clues regarding the Secret Order.

Of course, if he was lucky, he would even be able to figure out the

Sequence 7 which corresponded to the Clown through a particular circle

of Beyonders and buy the corresponding potion formula and main

ingredients.

As for Ince Zangwill's whereabouts, Klein temporarily chose not to take

the initiative to seek him out. He might even avoid him a little.

However, if he were to accidentally discover this enemy of his, without

exposing himself, he wouldn't mind doing a good deed and sending an

anonymous letter to the Church of Evernight.

*A private detective's income can, at most, support a middle-class

standard of living. If I want enough money to buy the potion formula and

Beyonder materials, It will either depend on Miss Justice, or it will be

through investments with the remaining 100 pounds that I have left in my

anonymous account... Yes, I can't touch the 92 pounds that I have for

the time being. Perhaps, I wouldn't be having any income for some

time...* With this in mind, Klein suddenly sat up. He came to

the first floor and began reading the various newspapers he bought in

passing.

These newspapers often carried news about what had been invented and

required investments, or how someone wished to form a joint venture with

others to do a particular business.

Klein relied on his knowledge from Earth and his understanding of this

era to carefully sift through the projects. Unfortunately, none of the

ones on the papers today were reliable.

At fifteen minutes to three, he returned to his bedroom, locked the

door, drew the curtains, and used Holy Night Powder to create a wall of

spirituality.

Klein took four steps counterclockwise and arrived above the gray fog.

He sat in the high-back chair belonging to The Fool before extending his

spirituality and touching the crimson star that symbolized The Sun as if

he was responding to a prayer.

*This is one of the few things in my new life that hasn't

changed...* he suddenly sighed.

In an area outside of the City of Silver, in a grayish-black tower that

was half-collapsed.

Nine members of a patrol squad were gathered around a blazing bonfire,

chatting about their experiences in the past few days.

There were also a few other team members guarding the perimeter,

prepared for any possible attacks that might break out from the

darkness.

Many of the City of Silver's Beyonders had used their blood to teach

them a lesson:

*"At all times, never let your guard down. The monsters in the darkness

could very well be right behind you!"*

On a night when the frequency of lightning was very low, it was

necessary to keep the flames burning and the light shining. Once they

were completely enveloped in darkness, it wasn't impossible for them to

all disappear---no one could say for sure just what terrible things

would happen in total darkness, because reality had broken the limits of

their imagination time and time again.

Derrick Berg remained reserved and silent as he quietly listened to his

companions reminiscing about the monster they had encountered before. It

was a humanoid monster with eyes covering its entire body.

In order to finish off the monster, their patrolling team suffered a

heavy price with five injured, and two of them severely injured.

Suddenly, Derrick's vision blurred, and he felt himself being enveloped

in a thick gray mist.

In an inexplicably faraway place, in the depths of the gray fog, a

blurry figure sat on an ancient high-back chair, looking down at him.

"Prepare for the gathering."

The Fool's voice echoed in Derrick's ears, but none of his teammates

were aware of it.

After withdrawing his gaze and observing the area for more than ten

seconds, Derrick moved to the very edge of the fire, leaned against the

broken wall, and pretended to be asleep.

Ever since he found out that the members of the six-member council and

Elder Lovia were unable to discover the existence of Mr. Fool, he

gradually believed that as long as he didn't carelessly reveal any

clues, he would be able to quietly attend the Tarot Club's gathering

above the gray fog even under the gaze of others.

Backlund, Empress Borough.

Using the excuse that she was tired, Audrey returned to her bedroom.

She curbed her excitement and didn't pace back and forth; instead, she

sat quietly on the bed, waiting for Mr. Fool's summoning.

*Father was busy communicating with the other Members of Parliament

about the proposed bill, and the Beyonder guard isn't tailing me

constantly. Thank you Goddess; my life has finally returned to normal!

Two weeks have passed, Mr. Hanged Man must've prepared the pituitary

gland of a mature Rainbow Salamander... I'm about to advance to Sequence

8!* Audrey thought with sparkling eyes.

To her, this was even more exciting and worth looking forward to than

the thirty thousand pound bounty and the large plantation worth at least

8,000 pounds!

Finally, she saw the familiar illusory crimson surge towards her like a

tidal wave, drowning her.

On an ancient-looking sailboat.

Alger Wilson locked the door to the captain's cabin and sat behind a

sextant and the ship logs. He kept memorizing the contents of the thick

stack of sheets in front of him.

After the investigations, he left the bustle of Backlund without any

qualms after being rewarded by the upper echelons and returned to the

sea, carrying a batch of secretly copied Roselle diary pages.

*After digesting the Seafarer potion, I'll be able to advance normally.

My contributions are enough for me to trade for the formula and

ingredients... However, this will expose the fact that I know the

"acting method." There are advantages and disadvantages...*

Alger shook his head, suddenly distracted.

At that moment, he felt the summoning of The Fool. His mind suddenly

recalled the face of Vice Admiral Hurricane Qilangos whose flesh and

blood quickly rotted as pieces of his face peeled off.

Alger instinctively lowered his head, allowing the crimson tide to

engulf him.

Above the gray fog, inside the palace that looked like a giant's

residence.

Having activated his Spirit Vision, Klein examined Justice, The Hanged

Man, and The Sun to confirm their current states.

Audrey was about to happily greet everyone when she suddenly saw The

Hanged Man gesturing to her before rushing to speak before her.

"Mr. Fool, I've obtained nineteen pages of Roselle's diary this time.

"Here, I must thank you for sending your Blessed to help me get rid of

Qilangos. These diary pages will be the compensation I should pay!"

19 pages? Not bad... Klein didn't talk much about the Blessed

as he smiled faintly.

"That is the principle of equivalent exchange."

*As expected of Mr. Fool... A Pirate Admiral with a mystical item was

nothing to "Him"... From the looks of it, I don't have to mention my

claiming of the bounty... I wonder how many High-Sequence Beyonders Mr.

Fool has as "His" Blessed...* Audrey had begun to use the word

"He," "Him," or "His" to refer to The Fool without realizing it.

Upon hearing The Fool's answer, Alger said humbly, "The limit of my

current memory is six pages. Please allow me to give them to you over

separate occasions."

"No problem." Klein, who was surrounded by thick gray fog, nodded

gently.

The Sun Derrick looked at the pages that appeared before The Hanged Man

and was very curious about the contents of the diary.

With his previous experiences, he believed that the items that Mr. Fool

was interested in definitely contained many mysteries.

He looked at Miss Justice and when he saw that she didn't have the

impulse to ask, he cautiously maintained his silence.

Soon, the six pages of the diary were complete and came into Klein's

hands.

Audrey and the others began to wait quietly. They were already used to

such things.

Klein looked down and read the first page:

"16th December. I managed to contact the pathetic fellow who's trapped

in the storm and was lost in the darkness."

*Finally, there's a follow-up to one of the previous pages of the

diary...* Klein was delighted, and he became more focused:

"He called himself Mr. Door and tried to teach me a complicated and

difficult ritual. He wanted me to help him return to the real world and

promised to fulfill three of my requests.

"Does he think I'm stupid? I've lived for more than sixty years over my

two lives. Does he think I can't tell that this is the usual

manipulation done by evil gods and devils?

"But the history of the Fourth Epoch that he described was truly

interesting."